


Baseball

by DeckofDragons



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Baseball, Dad Spy, Gen, birthday fic, father/son bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:56:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18460988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeckofDragons/pseuds/DeckofDragons
Summary: It's Scout's birthday and Spy needs to get him a gift.





	Baseball

**Author's Note:**

> My birthday fic for myself, yay! (Today, April 14th is my birthday :) )

“Engie,” Spy said as he strode into Engie’s workshop after picking the lock, “I need your help with something.”

Engie looked up from his work table with a slight frown as Spy approached to stand in front of it. He looked like he was considering telling Spy to fuck off but ultimately sighed and put down his wrench. “What is it?”

“I need to get Scout a birthday gift. I was thinking something related to baseball since he likes it so much. My knowledge on professional baseball is lacking however so I have come to you for assistance.”

“Why me?”

“You’re American. Baseball is considered the Great American Past Time or so I’ve heard. Thus, I figured you might know a thing or two about it.” Spy had considered asking Soldier for help too but he was clearly too stupid to have retained any information on the topic Spy might find useful. So, Engineer it was.

“Uh… okay. I don’t really know much though. Maybe get him a fancy bat and glove?”

“I got him that last year.” Spy had to up his game this year, especially now that Scout knew Spy’s ‘secret’.

“Um… maybe get him a signed ball from his favourite player or something? That’s supposed to be like a big thing I think.”

“That’s a good idea. Do you know who his favourite player is?”

“Nope, you got to…”

“Find out for me please.” Spy reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash which he placed on the table in front of Engie. “I expect an answer in three days’ time.”

“Why can’t you find out yourself,” Engie said as Spy turned to start heading for the exit.

“Because then he’ll suspect something and I need it to be a surprise. So be subtle about it if you can, maybe get Pyro to help you.”

Engie muttered something in response that was probably rude but Spy didn’t quite catch it as he was already heading through the door, pulling it closed behind himself.

 

“I just sort of asked him what players he liked and he went off,” Engie said when Spy returned to his workshop three days later to see if he’d gotten an answer. “He talked for a long ass time too. I memorized some of the names though and wrote them down.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Spy.

“Very good, thank you.” Spy accepted it and gave it a quick peek – yep it looked legit – before pocketing it. He then pulled out another wad of cash to give to Engie in return for his time and effort – it was good practice to pay one’s informants well even when the information they’d been asked to gather was for benign reasons.

Engie hesitated for a couple seconds before taking it. “Uh… thanks.”

“Now I must bid you adieu, I have a gift to get.” And only two weeks to get it. That was plenty of time though, how hard could it be?

 

Turns out, _very_ hard. It was off season, making getting in to see the players rather difficult. Spy had already committed though so he went full for it, spending quite a bit of money to get past security. But it was all worth it when he returned to base the evening before Scout’s birthday with the singed baseball in his bag. Scout better appreciate it.

“Where have you been?” Scout asked upon running into him reentering the base.

“Doing work stuff.” A half-truth, he’d taken care of a few work things while he was out and about too.

“Okay uh… don’t go anywhere else for now. My birthday party is tomorrow, I’m holding it in the rec room and everyone has to come, including you… _especially_ you, all right?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there.” Spy had attended far more of Scout’s birthday parties than he would ever know of. This was going to be the first one he attended officially as Scout’s dad

“Good, thanks.” He was doing a good job of hiding it but Scout was relieved to hear that. “I’ll let you do your stuff then, see you tomorrow.”

 

The next day came and with it, Scout’s birthday. He was turning twenty-four, ugh, Spy was getting old. His party in the rec-room included food, spiked punch, laid out on the table form the dining room, soft music and balloons. Naturally everyone on the team attended. Even Miss Pauling showed up even if it was only for a few minutes, long enough to wish Scout a happy birthday and give him a small gift before heading back to work.

Spy hung out in the corner, watching everyone else and resisting the urge to smoke a cigarette. Scout found a way to be chatty and sociable with everyone, clearly very pleased that everyone was there.

Everyone at some point gave Scout a gift. It was a variety of things of varying degrees of usefulness but Scout liked – or was very good at pretending to like – each one. Spy waited until he was last the one when Scout swung by him for a visit again.

“I got you a gift,” he said, pulling out the gift box, just big enough to contain the ball.

“Ooh, neat.” Scout’s eyes shone with excitement as he accepted it, grinning wide. He pulled the lid off and rolled the ball into his hand. “What is…” he began, cutting off as he no doubt spotted the signature. “Is this… for real? It ain’t fake?” He turned his eyes back up to meet Spy’s.

“I assure you it’s one hundred percent authentic,” Spy replied. “I went to great lengths to…”

“Oh my fucking god, _thank you_!” Scout tackled him with a hug, almost knocking them both over. Taken by surprise, Spy didn’t have time to return it before Scout was withdrawing. “That’s so _fucking_ _cool_. Thank you Dad, _really_ , you’re the _greatest_.”

“You’re… very welcome.” Spy gave him a nod, unsure how to respond to be called the ‘greatest’ especially with such conviction and excitement. It honestly wasn’t something he _ever_ would’ve thought Scout would call him. ~~It wasn’t something he _deserved_ to be called by Scout either and he never would deserve it.~~

Scout gave him another hug in reply that he was only marginally more ready for. Enough that he was able to at least sort of return it, hugging was not something he was very good at.

As soon as it was over, Scout turned to face the rest of rest of the room again, they were all pretending not look at the two of them – Scout’s shout upon confirmation that the gift was real had been loud enough to fill the room. “Hey guys, guess what my Dad got me.” He then ran over to show all of them. … That was the first time he’d referred to Spy as ‘my Dad’ to the rest of the team, it was rather nice.

 

“Thanks again for the ball,” Scout said later that night when Spy had answered his knock on the door. “It’s really cool, how’d you get it?”

“I went to where the teams were practicing and went in to see them and just asked,” Spy replied with a shrug as if it were no big deal.

Scout’s eyes widened. “That means you _met_ them too, that’s so _cool_.”

“I suppose.”

 “But uh… I _really_ appreciate it. I know baseball’s not like your thing and stuff so… yeah, thanks again.”

“Once more, you’re welcome. I’m glad you like it.” It had been worth that hassle to acquire. He’d made a good choice with it.


End file.
